Rats - yet again !

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Primrose
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Forgive me for raising this perennial problem again but they are always with us, aren't they?

How long does it take for rat bait to work? After an absence of several months, one or more rats is regularly visiting our garden again and I'm worrying about them urinating on my vegetable patch. My husband baited 3 boxes on Saturday. They were all empty this morning but Ratto still lively and chasing magpies round the lawn, showing no sign of poisoning whatsoever.

Does anybody know where you can buy commercial strength bait?. I'm beginning to think the stuff you can buy over the counter just doesn't work any more
robo
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Primrose, I find you have to use a different poison each time I buy some I think the rats become immune to a particular poison if used over and over
Monika
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Primrose, can you not call in a professional? We and our immediate neighbour saw a rat in the garden about two months ago, called a 'rat catcher' who came the same day, placed some bait boxes in the dry stone walls, then called twice more, a week apart each time, to check on the boxes and we have not seen a big furry friend again. My daughter, in another village and directly next to a farm, did the same and the beasties have gone, for the time being, anyway.
tomdhu
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Afraid I cannot agree with the use of poison baits. It inevitably means that the rats and mice ingest the poison and it takes time to work. So they stagger around looking for water and they get picked up by the likes of barn owls who in turn become poisoned. This is one reason that the barn owl numbers have declined so catastrophically in the last 10 years. There is a write up about it at https://trapbarn.com
OK, these guys have a vested interest in traps but they do appear to be an environmentally responsible way of eliminating rats
PLUMPUDDING
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There's a brown rat the size of a guinea pig on the bird table. I'm not using poison as the cat eats any he catches and it's difficult to find a safe place to put humane traps that the hedgehog won't go in, I've caught it twice. My son shoots two or three a week but there must be dozens of them. They come through the wall from the council flats nearby but have tunnels in several places. I was wondering about putting glue traps down if I can find somewhere safe from other creatures. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
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Pa Snip
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If the rats are originating from the council flats could you not request assistance from the said councils pest officer, they must surely have one.

The danger when people start to believe their own publicity is that they often fall off their own ego.

At least travelling under the guise of the Pa Snip Enterprise gives me an excuse for appearing to be on another planet
tigerburnie
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Rats are with us and have always been around, I shoot a few to keep the numbers down and move stuff around where they might like to live, eg my compost bin and log piles for the fire. They don't like human disturbance so ours live in next doors shed, which they haven't opened the door on for over a decade.
Been gardening for over 65 years and still learning.
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Geoff
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If you try glue traps don't try these.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Big-Size-Mic ... 2749.l2649

Came folded in half sticky to sticky, almost impossible to open up and lay flat. Activity has continued and caught nothing.
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Diane
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'Preserve wildlife - pickle a rat'
Westi
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That's timely Diane, thank you! Just today my neighbour with the chickens advised me he had got several. I've not seen any activity on my plot but they will come as they do every time. He has been calculating the cost of the bait & food etc for the chickens v's the worth of keeping them. It wouldn't matter if he did get rid of his as there are loads of plots with chickens around me & the rats will still be there.

I will get one of these & show him to see if the zapper, which will be cheaper than the price of his bait in the long term.
Westi
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